47 Facts About Joel Teitelbaum

Joel Teitelbaum was the second son of the Grand Rabbi of Sighet Chananyah Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum and his second wife, Chana Ashkenazi.

Joel Teitelbaum was the youngest child; he had four older siblings.

The rabbis of the Joel Teitelbaum family were known for their highly conservative stances and their opposition to the Enlightenment, Neolog Judaism, and Zionism.

Joel Teitelbaum became dean of the local rabbinical seminary and the leader of the eponymous Hasidic movement based in the city.

Joel Teitelbaum was renowned for his intellectual capacities from a young age.

Joel Teitelbaum was stringent in matters regarding ritual purity and would lengthily prepare for prayer by meticulously cleaning himself.

Journalist Dezso David Schon, who researched the Joel Teitelbaum dynasty, wrote that Joel Teitelbaum started to refer to himself as the "Rebbe of Satmar" around this point.

In 1911, Joel Teitelbaum was invited by the Jewish community in Ilosva to serve as their town's rabbi.

Joel Teitelbaum forbade any contact with Zionists, including the Mizrachi, and supported Chaim Elazar Spira, the Rebbe of Munkacs, in his opposition to World Agudath Israel.

In 1922, after eight years outside the town, Joel Teitelbaum returned to his community, Irsiva, then in Czechoslovakia.

Joel Teitelbaum moved to the city about a year afterward.

Tzvi's oldest son, Yekusiel Yehuda Joel Teitelbaum, was just fourteen years old.

Regardless, most of the Hasidim turned to Joel Teitelbaum, who became the dynasty's rebbe in all but title.

On 20 May 1928, Eliezer David Greenwald of Satmar died, and Joel Teitelbaum ran for the municipal rabbi's office again.

An agreement was reached on 11 June 1930, and Joel Teitelbaum was invited to serve as Satmar's chief rabbi.

Joel Teitelbaum chose not to accept the nomination until he was certain of support from the community council, which took three and a half years.

Joel Teitelbaum was accompanied by his son-in-law, Chananya Yom-Tov Lipa Joel Teitelbaum, rabbi of Szemihaly, and community leader Shmuel Rosenberg, and standing beside them were rabbis of the status quo and neolog communities, as well as other religious leaders.

Joel Teitelbaum's daughter settled in Jerusalem, while he called on his followers not to emigrate.

The attempt failed, and Joel Teitelbaum was arrested and sent to Kolozsvar Ghetto.

Joel Teitelbaum put himself on the list even though a Zionist group organized the evacuation.

Joel Teitelbaum resided in Jerusalem at the house of his nephew and son-in-law, Lipa Meir Joel Teitelbaum.

When Joel Teitelbaum's institutions became bankrupt after a year, he emigrated to the United States.

Joel Teitelbaum settled in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with a small group of supporters.

The community's regulations, accepted in April 1952, decreed that Joel Teitelbaum was not a salaried officeholder but the supreme spiritual authority over the members.

In 1951, although not a resident of Israel, Joel Teitelbaum was appointed to the ceremonial office of President of the anti-Zionist Edah HaChareidis in Jerusalem.

In 1955, Joel Teitelbaum founded the Central Rabbinical Congress, which he headed for the remainder of his life.

On 23 February 1968, Joel Teitelbaum suffered a stroke, which left him partially paralyzed and barely functioning.

Joel Teitelbaum was succeeded by his nephew, Moshe Teitelbaum, the second son of his older brother.

Joel Teitelbaum was well-known for his spoken and written opposition to Zionism.

Joel Teitelbaum encouraged his followers living in Israel to form self-sufficient communities without assistance from the State of Israel and forbade any official engagement with it.

Joel Teitelbaum argues that the second oath relates to the wars between Israel and neighboring Arab countries.

Joel Teitelbaum saw his opposition to Zionism as a way of protecting Jews and preventing bloodshed.

Apart from his opposition to the founding and existence of Israel as being violations of the Three Oaths and his opposition to Zionism as an idolatrous replacement of or addition to rabbinic Judaism, Joel Teitelbaum held that participating in the Israeli government - especially voting in the elections - was prohibited.

Joel Teitelbaum resided in Jerusalem for roughly one year after escaping from Europe and before the establishment of the State of Israel.

Joel Teitelbaum visited Israel after moving to the United States.

Joel Teitelbaum was very stringent in many particulars of Jewish law.

Joel Teitelbaum argued with Moshe Feinstein over the proper height of a mechitza.

Feinstein held that the mechitza needed to go only up to the shoulders of the average woman; Joel Teitelbaum opined that the mechitza should not allow women to be seen at all.

Joel Teitelbaum was strongly opposed to the use of a tube for metzitzah during circumcision of a baby boy and felt that this change in the procedure would spiritually lead to more promiscuity.

Joel Teitelbaum encouraged all married Hasidic men to wear ceremonial fur hats.

Joel Teitelbaum held that young men and women should not meet more than two or three times before getting engaged.

Joel Teitelbaum was a strong proponent of the Hungarian Hasidic custom for married women to shave their heads every month before immersion in the mikveh.

Joel Teitelbaum recommended against wearing wigs by married women as he felt that the halakha prohibited this.

Joel Teitelbaum bought and oversaw his own Yiddish-language newspaper, Der Yid, for two reasons: First, he felt that the other Yiddish newspapers at the time contained articles that were prohibited from reading because of their promiscuous content and lack of respect for Haredi leaders.

Additionally, Joel Teitelbaum wanted a platform from which to spread his ideas.

Some works Joel Teitelbaum authored himself, or otherwise compiled by students:.

Joel Teitelbaum authored a brief introduction to the Talmudic tractate Shabbat for a Holocaust-era printing in Romania.